State of the society

In keeping with the tradition of this Society , it is my pleasant duty to report to you on the state of the IEEE Control Systems Society. In almost every area, the news is good. Finances The financial situation of the Control Systems Society seems to be very solid at this time. Financial Vice President Jim Melsa is predicting a surplus for 1986 of more than $99 K, bringing our reserves to over $500 K. This means that we have about one year's worth of expenses in reserve, which is great. Because of our solid financial position, we were able to hold this year's CDC in Athens without financial trepidation. We are also able to increase membership services in ways described later. Thanks, Jim, for a job well done. I am sure that incoming Financial Vice President Bill Levine will continue to exercise careful control of our Society's financial resources. Membership Membership was my number one priority when I became President. In this area, there is some good news and bad news. The bad news is that our membership growth is at a standstill, just as it was in 1985. We are losing as many members as are joining. A new Membership Retention Committee was created to focus rittention on how to retain April 1987 members. Any ideas you have on this are most welcome. The good news, and I am happy to repon that there is a lot of it, is in no small measure due to Membership Vice President Jane Cul-lum. Jane has brought tremendous vigor, energy , and creativity to this job. Our Distinguished Lectureship Program, which is now available to Society Chapters, is getting off the ground. It should provide tremendous resources to our Chapters, because , as we understand it, one of the most difficult problems a Chapter faces is arranging for top-flight speakers at meetings. Such speakers are a part of our Distinguished Lec-tureship Program, so Chapters please avail yourself of them! We are embarking on a Tutorial-Overview Videotape Program, which will be implemented by IEEE. Our first tape, which is on the subject of automated manufacturing, will be available sometime this spring. A new Control Systems Society Technology Award has been approved. It is aimed primarily at our industrial members. We will also be one of the sponsoring IEEE societies of a new IEEE Judith Resnik Field Aw'ard. Dr. Resnik was, as you …